Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are glass snakes part of the garter family? even if they arent maybe someone here could help me. my 5 yr old second cousin found one in the backyard today and its tail was on, then her friend brought it to show me without a tail...i have read some glass snakes and lizards lose their tails, but snakes too? i havent ever heard of that, will it live? also what does it eat?
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The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -Unknown

Glass Snakes are actually one of the legless lizards. They are not related to Garter snakes any more than any other species of lizard. Legless Lizards (Glass Snakes) will lose their tails as a defensive mechanism as many other lizards do but snakes will not. Another way to identify them is that Legless Lizards have eyelids and external ear openings and snakes do not.

I am not familiar with any other species of reptile referred to as a glass snake and I believe all my information is accurate.

Hope this helps,
Randy

Randy is correct. The "glass snake" your cousin found is in fact a glass lizard, not related closely to garter snakes and in fact not a snake at all. It may look like a snake superficially, owing to the lack of limbs, but the existence of moveable eyelids and external ear openings means it's a lizard.

The tail, which constitutes at least 2/3rds of the total length when fully intact, is very delicate and in fact is designed to break off easily. This allows the lizard to escape from predators while the predator goes for the still-wriggling tail. The lizard will regenerate a new tail eventually.

The glass reference refers to the fact that glass lizards, while resembling snakes in outward appearance, are much more rigid and less supple overall than snakes. Because of the fact that they are so "brittle" with regard to potential tail breakoff, I generally leave them alone if I encounter them in the field. I recommend releasing it back into the wild.
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MichaelB